Kings Point Rowers continued their successful season with gold and two silvers in at the Metropolitan Rowing Championships on Saturday. The gold was in the Women’s Pairs while both the Men’s Varsity Four and Freshman Four finished second in each of their races. This competition started as a local championship amongst Metropolitan New York teams, and eventually expanded to include sixteen teams from as far away as Albany and includes larger teams such as Army, Fordham and Fairfield University.

The Women’s Pair of Anna Simons ‘12 and Kacey Rohloff dominated the field by taking the lead after 5 strokes and was then unrelenting in pushing the competition further behind as they rowed to victory. With nearly a 100 meter lead, the duo wrote Kings Point history with the first ever victory in the event by a KP women’s team. “They really looked strong today; this was the first chance for the pair to show their speed during this season. They rowed really well and I am hopeful for the remainder of the season”, said Coach Derek Hartwick following the race. The victory was not without near incident; when approaching the finish, the crew nearly steered the shell toward rocks that were near the finish line and were marked with an orange buoy just as the finish line was. “We thought the red buoy was the finish and we started sprinting toward it. Then we realized our mistake and took off for the finish line” said Rohloff; the crew member that steers the boat. It was the first time that this crew had raced on this race course and the bow-person has to row and steer while sitting backwards.

The Men’s Varsity Four continued to strength as it has throughout the season. Coming off a strong 2nd place showing at the prestigious Knecht Cup two weeks ago, the Kings Point crew of Coxswain Robert Kaldenbach ’12, Stoke Brad Webster ’09, 3-Erik Henden ’09, 2-James Sanwald ’11, and Bow- Charles Waters ’10 rowed easily through the heat and into the final. In the final though, they met with strong opposition from Fordham, who have won National titles in recent years. The KP rowers held the lead for the first 750 meters until Fordham took a slight lead. Kings Point was able to stay close to the Fordham crew but despite a push by our rowing mariners, the Fordham crew was able to hold on to a slight lead to the finish. The Kings Point Varsity finished 2nd and was able to hold off a final sprint by Iona. “They finished 2nd of 13 colleges and rowed their best race. I’m pleased with how well they rowed amongst such tough competition” commented Coach Hartwick.

The Men’s Freshman crew of Coxswain William Walls ’12, Stroke- Frank Osborne ’12, 3-ConnanIngham ’12, 2-Patrick Waller ’12, and Grey Gambill rowed easily through their heat and into the final favored to be in the medals. The crew is comprised of mostly novice rowers except for Osborne who rowed in high school. The crew performed very strongly amongst a mix of thirteen experienced and inexperienced crews. Coxswain Walls commented “We led the whole field from the first few strokes and through the half-way point until Army started to move. They got a slight lead that we were not able to regain. The crew rowed really well.”

The team travels to Whitney Point, NY on May 2 to compete in the New York Rowing Championships. Coach Hartwick is optimistic about the team’s chances of doing well next week. “I’m really looking forward to next weekend. We have really been performing well and I think that we’ll do well at the New York Championships.”